University Challenge - Highest Scores

When we got 390 in the final in 1995 Bamber Gascoigne commented that it was one of the
highest scores he could remember since the show began in 1962. This
was then overtaken by Open's
415, beating their previous
395. Similarly, when Manchester won by 320 points,
Jeremy Paxman declared it was the biggest
winning margin in the show's history, a claim backed up in the ensuing
newspaper
articles.

However, neither of these claims are true. In the first round of 1987,
the final series before the show was cut by Granada, University
College, Oxford beat Reading by 520 to 35. Bamber said that he thought
that they had broken the previous record (held by a Leeds team from
the 1970s) when they passed 440.
Subsequently, the records were checked, and it was discovered they had
amassed this with the help of 15 extra points from their opponents for
buzzing early. As the rules were later changed to deduct points rather
than add them, this meant their score was revised to 425.

In 1977-8 Sidney Sussex, Cambridge beat Leeds by 400-170 and were told that
this was the first time that 400 had been reached.
Later, in the 1984 series Birkbeck, London notched up 430 in beating
Exeter College, Oxford, which Bamber referred to as the second highest
score of all time. Thus if Leeds' 440 was recalculated as 425 then
Birkbeck's score was in fact the record at that time. Moreover, in the
same series Magdalen College, Oxford scored 405 during their quarter
final match. Bamber commented that this was only the fifth time that
the 400 barrier had been broken in the show's 22 year history.

The following year Open beat St Andrew's in the final with a score of
425, and Bamber stated that they were only 5 points off the record score.

Note that during the Bamber Gascoigne era, bonuses were often worth up to 40 points
rather than the usual 15, meaning that higher scores were possible. I've also
discounted the 1986 and 1987 'pass-the-baton'
games in which a different format was used and the scores for the day started at the
final scores from the previous day. Thus the day after their record 520 score, University College, Oxford
increased this to 930 by the end of their 'pass-the-baton' game, certainly the highest score
that a University Challenge scoreboard has had to display.

So in addition to the table below, I may conjecture the following
all-time high scoring table:

Highest scores of all-time

Pos'n

Team

Opponents

Round

Year

Score

1

University, Oxford

Reading

1

87

520

2

Birkbeck, London

Exeter, Oxford

1?

84

430

3

Leeds

?

?

70s

425

3

Open

St Andrews

F

84

425

5?

Open

Charing Cross

SF

97

415

6?

Peterhouse, Cambridge

St Anne's, Oxford

1

64

410

7

St John's, Cambridge

?

?

79?

>405?

8

University, Oxford

Open

SF

87

405

9

Magdalen, Oxford

UWIST

QF

84

405

10

Sidney Sussex, Cambridge

Leeds

1

78

400

Thanks to John Authers and Roger Mortimore of the 1987 University
College team, members of Sidney Sussex, 1978, Philip Beagon of the 1984 Magdalen team, Stephen Pearson,
captain of Manchester's 1996 team, Norman Hammond of Peterhouse, 1965, and Peter Cartwright for this info.

At the moment, I can also conjecture that the highest losing score,
and the highest aggregate score were both scored in the same match in
1987. In the semi-final match University College, Oxford beat the Open
University by 405-335 giving a total score of 740!